The Montgomery Central Timberwolves will face off against the Oak Grove Grizzlies at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Montgomery Central has struggled recently with 26 losses in a row, while Oak Grove will arrive with three straight wins.
Montgomery Central is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against North Davidson on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Montgomery Central was outmatched by North Davidson and fell 79-41. The Timberwolves were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 48-24.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Christopher Curtis, who went 5 for 7 on his way to 14 points and seven rebounds. Trey Myrick was another key player, dropping a double-double on ten points and ten boards.
Meanwhile, Oak Grove earned a 73-60 victory over North Davidson on Thursday. Given the Grizzlies' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 149th, while the Black Knights are ranked 366th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Oak Grove had a senior duo take command as Max Hurt dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds and Loucas Shoaf went 9 of 14 on his way to 26 points. The match was Shoaf's 14th in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tristan Nunez, who posted ten points.
Oak Grove was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as North Davidson only racked up seven assists.
Montgomery Central's defeat dropped their record down to 0-13. As for Oak Grove, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Montgomery Central has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 27.5 boards per game. However, it's not like Oak Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.8 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Montgomery Central lost to Oak Grove at home by a decisive 65-47 margin in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hurt, who went 8 of 15 on his way to 18 points along with seven boards and four steals. Now that Montgomery Central knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
